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It's Time to Impeach EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy

For far too long, Congress has allowed unelected bureaucrats and executive branch officials to slowly bend and break the laws of this country in order to further their own partisan political agendas. We have reached a breaking point where the American people have no faith in the fundamental checks and balances put in place by our founders to protect our liberties and freedoms.

On numerous occasions, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy broke the law by lying to Congress in order to force misguided and overreaching regulations, which have no scientific basis, down our throats. Perjury before Congress is perjury to the American people and an affront to the core principles of our Republic and the rule of law...

...and that is why I introduced articles of impeachment to remove Administrator McCarthy from office.

Under Administrator McCarthy’s direction, the EPA continues to enact job-killing regulations that increase food prices and energy costs for hard-working American families. Hundreds of thousands of jobs will be lost as a result of these new mandates, which disproportionately impact the poor. This should be concerning enough, but to make matters worse, these regulations are not based on science and are being imposed through lies to Congress and the American people. We must hold D.C. bureaucrats accountable when they commit perjury or make false statements in order to implement President Obama’s misguided agenda.

You can learn more about my efforts to remove Administrator McCarthy from office by clicking HERE.

Blocking the EPA's Harmful WOTUS Regulation

The EPA’s new Waters of the U.S. regulation (WOTUS) was slated to go into effect August 28th. Fortunately, the Sixth Circuit has issued a nationwide stay and temporarily blocked implementation of this new rule. In December, the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) also reported that the EPA violated federal law by engaging in a propaganda campaign to promote WOTUS. Specifically, GAO found: "The use of appropriated funds associated with implementing EPA’s Thunderclap campaign and establishing hyperlinks to the NRDC and to the Surfrider Foundation webpages violated prohibitions against publicity or propaganda and grassroots lobbying contained in appropriations acts for FYs 2014 and 2015. Because EPA obligated and expended appropriated funds in violation of specific prohibitions, we also conclude that EPA violated the Antideficiency Act, 31 U.S.C. § 1341(a)(1)(A), as the agency’s appropriations were not available for these prohibited purposes.”

This job-killing, overreaching water grab that is trying to be imposed by Washington bureaucrats is a dream killer for future generations that will result in significant job losses and in considerable harm to our economy. WOTUS contradicts prior Supreme Court decisions by expanding agency control over 60% of our country’s streams and millions of acres of wetlands that were previously non-jurisdictional. WOTUS infringes on States' rights and contradicts three Supreme Court rulings. All Americans want clean water, but unconstitutional overreaches by the federal government don't promote sound environmental policy.

The EPA recently unveiled its new “Clean Power Plan” rule which seeks to dramatically reduce carbon emissions from power plants. American families are projected to lose almost $600 billion in disposable income as a result of EPA’s new proposed regulation. An economic analysis also found that this overreaching Washington mandate could kill 226,000 jobs annually and may cost our economy more than $50 billion each year. All of this economic harm and destruction for our economies is projected to only result in a 1.8% reduction of global carbon-dioxide emissions by the year 2030. Shockingly, the Wall Street Journal recently reported that emails obtained through a Freedom of Information Request show that the EPA likely violated the Administrative Procedures Act by closely coordinating with extremist environmental groups and allowing special-interests to write and provide significant diction that was actually incorporated into these new regulations.

I have cosponsored numerous pieces of legislation and voted for bills that passed the House to block this overreach. I also requested a funding rider that was inserted into a House appropriations bill and offered an amendment to formally withdraw this new mandate. In December, the House successfully passed S.J.Res.23 and S.J.Res.24 with my support and triggered the Congressional Review Act to effectively block the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) arbitrary regulations for new and existing power plants. Unfortunately, President Obama used a pocket veto days before Christmas in order to veto these critical pieces of legislation. CLICK HERE to read more.

Arizona’s Generation and Transmission Cooperatives strongly supports this legislation stating, “The revised ozone standards, if fully implemented, would be the most expensive mandate in our nation’s history. The impact on many rural communities would be particularly profound… Rural communities served by AEPCO, where in some areas up to a third of the population we serve live at or below the federal poverty level, already face economic hardship. Job losses in every sector of the local economy have been staggering, and most communities where people receive our power have yet to recover. The cost of this proposal to the rural Arizona worker is real and immediate, while the benefits are unverified and uncertain. We thank you for your leadership in blocking the implementation of the new ozone standard, which threatens the livelihood of rural communities throughout the U.S. and Arizona.” It is far past time that Congress reined in the EPA. I will continue to take action to prevent this nonsensical and extremely costly new mandate that will kill jobs and cause catastrophic damage to our economy. CLICK HERE to read more.

Gold King Mine Spill

The same government agency that just dumped more than 3 million gallons of toxic waste into a river believes that it should have limitless control to regulate all water in the United States. Only in the land of BIG GOVERNMENT does that make any sense. I will continue to relentlessly hammer the EPA for their gross incompetence the same way the EPA relentlessly hammers job creators.

The EPA has previously pursued, with full force, criminal charges against private sector companies for spills that were a fraction of the 3 million gallons that the EPA dumped into the Animus River. A Wall Street Journal article published on September 9, 2015, written by a former EPA employee, Bill Wehrum pointed out that when a facility in Charleston, West Virgina, accidently spilled roughly 7,500 gallons of toxic chemicals into the local waterway, the EPA went after the company with “everything it had.” In the same article, Wehrum also references an incident that occurred during the Clinton Administration where a railroad supervisor overseeing a quarry project hired a contractor who accidently struck a pipeline with a backhoe and contaminated around 1,500 gallons of river water. Though supervisor Hanough was off duty at the time of the incident and had subcontracted the work, the EPA pursued criminal charges against him and he was sentenced to 6 months in prison because he was ultimately responsible for safety on the site.

In a September hearing before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, when asked whether the government should be held to the same standards as it requires of the public and the private sector, EPA Administrator McCarthy stated that “actually a higher standard would be quite appropriate.” Yet, not a single employee at the EPA has been fired or even put on administrative leave. I demanded accountability at a hearing in September where I grilled EPA Administrator McCarthy about which EPA employees are going to jail or being reprimanded for this catastrophic spill. Unfortunately, the Obama Administration’s statements about accepting responsibility for this incident appear to be just empty words as neither McCarthy nor Secretary Jewell could effectively answer my questions about why the EPA isn't being held to the same standards and punishments as those imposed for the private sector.

Cutting the EPA's Budget

Over the past 6 years, the EPA, at the behest of the Obama Administration, has taken unprecedented actions to defy the rule of law and enact far-left, extremist policies by executive fiat. In response, I am more than happy to remind this out-of-control, rogue agency about our Constitution and system of checks and balances which includes ‘the power of the purse’ granted to the House of Representatives. As long as the EPA continues forcing unlawful, job killing polices on the American people, I will continue defunding this agency’s ability to impose further harm. Click HERE to read about the actions I've taken to cut the EPA's budget.

And click HERE to read my recent op-ed calling out the EPA's lawlessness and hypocricy.